CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Roark Capital to buy CKE Restaurants from Apollo

(Corrects number of CKE restaurants to 3,400 from "more than
3,000," corrects number of countries where CKE operates to 29
from 25)

By Olivia Oran

NEW YORK Nov 19 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Roark
Capital Group has clinched a deal to acquire Apollo Global
Management-based restaurant group CKE Inc, the parent of
the Hardees and Carl's Jr fast food chains.

Roark prevailed over rival bidder TriArtisan Capital
Partners in the later stage of the process, according to people
familiar with the matter.

The deal values CKE at between $1.65 billion to $1.75
billion, the people said.

Apollo declined to comment on the transaction. Goldman Sachs
Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co represented CKE
in the deal.

TriArtisan was in the lead to buy CKE in an auction that
also drew interest from Roark Capital and Pamplona Capital
Management, but discussions were continuing and Apollo could
still turn to another buyer, Reuters reported on Monday.

The company, with 3,400 restaurants in 42 U.S. states and 29
countries, competes with fast-food companies such as McDonald's
Corp and Burger King Worldwide Inc.